2 Die as School Bus Overturns on New Jersey Highway

One student and one teacher were killed and dozens were injured Thursday when a school bus from a New Jersey middle school collided with a dump truck and flipped over onto the median on U.S. Route 80 in western New Jersey, officials said.

All 45 people on the bus and the driver of the dump truck were rushed to hospitals, many in serious condition. The children were wearing seat belts, police said.

The bus was carrying 38 students and seven chaperones from East Brook Middle School in Paramus, New Jersey, on a fifth-grade field trip to Waterloo Village, a recreated 19th-century town about 40 miles west of the school, when it crashed in Mount Olive a few miles from its destination, said Paramus Police Commissioner Holly Tedesco. The teacher who died taught at the middle school.

The yellow bus came to rest on its side on the grassy divider on I-80, its cabin twisted and slightly charred and ripped from its chassis. Debris from inside the bus — a pair of Nike shoes, reusable water bottles, a black jacket and snack bags — were strewn about the grass surrounding the severed bus cabin.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.

At East Brook Middle School, where a sign reads “A Great Place to Grow Up,” parents gathered outside to collect their children. Some mothers and children wept as they walked away from the school.

The bus was one of three buses that went on the trip; the other two returned to the school.

“I heard a scraping sound and we toppled over the highway,” said Theo Ancevski, 11, who was on the crashed bus and was treated for cuts and scrapes. “A lot of people were screaming and hanging from their seat belts.”

Katherine LaFaso, whose son, Austin, went on the trip, said that she began to worry when she got a text from her brother asking, “Was Austin on a field trip today?” When she understood what was happening, she said, “I lost it and just came running” to the school.

Austin had been on one of the buses that did not crash. She hugged him outside the school, saying, “I’m not letting go. I don’t know about any more field trips.”

LaFaso said that her son knew a lot of the students on the crashed bus. “We are praying,” she said. “We’re just praying.”

A spokeswoman for Atlantic Health System said that patients had been taken to Morristown Medical Center and Hackettstown Medical Center.

The crash happened around 10:30 a.m. Eastern time on the westbound side of the highway near Exit 25, about an hour west of New York City. Gov. Philip D. Murphy said the state police and the Morris County prosecutor’s office were investigating the crash, which a police official said was standard after a wreck of such severity.

The National Transportation Safety Board also is monitoring the crash, officials said.

Paramus school officials said the borough’s schools would be open Friday and that crisis counselors would be on hand. The school canceled all after-school activities for the week and all field trips for the remainder of the school year.

“My gut is tied in knots,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., whose congressional district includes Paramus. “As a father, I am praying for every parent and child, and I hope that all those injured make a full recovery.”